Talkin' Bout Their Generation --Today's "New New Youth"

"The New Youth" is a term that was coined in the middle 1980s by the Japanese author Sakaiya Taichi to indicate the generation that was born after about 1965. Today, a decade later,as the new youth graduates into adulthood, advertisers have struck upon the expression "the new new youth" to serve as a synonym for the most recent cohort of urban kids in their late teens and early 20s.

Taiwan's "new new youth," born after 1970 and having grown up in the late Cold War era in a period of rapid economic growth, began to appear in all corners of society in the late 1980s. They have become the darlings of the advertising media because of their massive consumer demand. Moreover they are very different from the older generation in their values and attitudes towards life. They are steadily breaking down the traditional norms and methods of communication that used to govern family, school, and work.

Anyone who just takes the time to look around can sense that this cohort of young people is more and more different: they feel hard-pressed by the high cost of housing, they are absorbing scientific and technical knowledge as fast--if not faster --than their parents, they declare their preference for this or that political party right out at school,and they are not hesitant to step up to the counter at Watson's pharmacy and buy condoms or birth control pills.

Some people suggest that this is an era of iconoclasm and self-realization, but also an era of rootlessness and insecurity. This seems to be borne out by the recent random acts of violence against innocent persons by motorcycle gangs and the by now well-entrenched hedonism. No wonder President Lee Teng-hui once asked what it is the "new new youth" are really thinking.

In this issue, Sinorama looks at the youth of Taipei City to explore their thoughts, perspective,and inner world. We ask: Should we think of this"new new youth" as part of the process of socialization, or its result? How should parents with children in this age group cope with changing family relations? And we offer the story of someone who has been there.